The Butch and Sundance Quiz

About This Quiz

These criminals were hunted for years and finally driven out of the Wild West they so loved. How much do you know about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid?

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid are best known for committing which kinds of crimes?

Robbery

Kidnapping

Murder

They were criminals at heart, perfectly suited to robbing law-abiding people of the Old West. Their favorite targets were banks and trains.

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What was Butch Cassidy's real first name?

Bobby

Henry

Robert

In Utah in 1866, Cassidy was born Robert Leroy Parker. He lived a short and crime-filled life.

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Cassidy was the oldest of how many children?

8

11

13

Cassidy was raised in a Mormon family that featured 13 children. He left his home when he was in his early teen years.

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What was the Sundance Kid's real name?

Ulysses

Trenton

Harry

Harry Alonzo Longabaugh, better known as Sundance Kid, was born in Pennsylvania in 1867. He was the baby of the family and had four older siblings.

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How did Sundance get his nickname?

His first girlfriend was a Native American.

He stole a horse.

He liked to dance in the morning.

When he was about 20 years old, he stole a horse and saddle from a ranch near Sundance, Colorado. He did 18 months in prison for the act and also got a nickname out of the deal.

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What was Butch Cassidy's first crime?

shoplifting

assault

robbery

He shoplifted clothing (and some pie) and left an IOU indicating that he'd repay the debt, but the store owner pressed charges. Cassidy was acquitted at trial.

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At which job was Cassidy working when he got his nickname?

meat shop

cattle ranch

bank

He worked for a butcher and his first nickname was probably "Butcher," which was then shortened to Butch.

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How much money did Cassidy take from the first bank that he robbed?

$2,400

$8,800

$21,000

He and his cohorts stole about $21,000, which would be worth well over half a million dollars today.

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Where was the first bank that Cassidy robbed?

Colorado

Wyoming

New Mexico

Cassidy's first big hit was in Telluride, Colorado. He was aided by three other cowboys during the 1889 heist.

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What was the name of the gang that Cassidy and Sundance joined?

The Madmen

The Wild Bunch

The Cutthroats

The Wild Bunch was a group of men known for carefully planning their heists and their escapes. The attention to detail made them successful … and notorious.

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The Wild Bunch was known for being scary and vicious, but non-violent.

True

False

The gentle Hollywood depictions of the gang as non-violent offenders is false. During their crimes they killed at least five lawmen, which contributed to the widespread manhunts and large rewards for their capture.

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In 1894, Cassidy was imprisoned for stealing a horse that had what value?

$5

$50

$500

He had to serve 18 months for stealing a $5 horse. Some say Cassidy's initial experiences with the justice system soured his view of law enforcement in general.

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What was the name of the organization that took a leading role in hunting the gang?

National Guard

Texas Rangers

Pinkerton National Detective Agency

The Pinkerton National Detective Agency was hired to track down numerous Western outlaws. The agency became a feared force in the West.

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How many times was Sundance arrested in his life?

once

three times

four times

He was arrested just once -- the horse-stealing episode that earned him his nickname.

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What was Cassidy's reputation amongst his neighbors?

He was kind and friendly.

He was short-tempered and mean.

He was downright violent.

Cassidy was the kind of guy who helped out his neighbors when they needed assistance, and he did so with a smile. As a criminal, he wasn't particularly fond of guns.

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After a robbery, what did the members of the Wild Bunch tend to do?

They would head for the nearest large city.

They headed for Mexico.

They scattered.

To confuse their pursuers and maximize their chances of escape, they scattered … and then met up again later at a hideout.

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Who was the fastest gunslinger in the Wild Bunch?

Cassidy

Sundance

neither

Sundance garnered a reputation as the fastest gunslinger -- but as far as the historical records go, he apparently never killed any other Americans.

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Cattle queen Ann Bassett reportedly had a relationship with which one of the gangsters?

Cassidy

Sundance

both

Bassett was Cassidy's longtime girlfriend, and she probably carried on with Sundance (with both men's' knowledge), but perhaps using a different name … Etta Place.

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When law enforcement failed time and again to stop the railroad robberies, how did Union Pacific Railroad respond?

They offered Cassidy a job.

They booby-trapped the trains.

They hired mercenaries with machine guns.

Union Pacific essentially gave up on stopping the robbers and offered Cassidy a job. He turned them down.

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What was the name of the hideout that the Wild Bunch gang used in southern Utah?

Killers Canyon

Liars Lair

Robbers Roost

The Robbers Roost gained notoriety as the place where the gang planned their heists and then hid from authorities.

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For how long did the Robbers Roost serve as a hideout for various outlaws?

10 years

20 years

30 years

The hot, remote location was surrounded by rough terrain that made for miserable living conditions. But it made a perfect hideout for lawless criminals.

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Why did Sundance decide to buy a ranch in Argentina in 1901?

To escape the law

Land was ridiculously cheap.

He had a fight with Cassidy.

Tired of the pressures of law enforcement, he fled the country with Etta Place and bought a ranch in Argentina. After only a couple of years, they sold the ranch out of fears that the law had caught up to them.

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In June 1899, the gang robbed a train loaded with gold intended for what purpose?

city infrastructure

soldier payroll

orphanage

The roughly $50,000 in gold that the men stole was meant to pay soldiers who were fighting in the Spanish-American War.

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In the famous movie, "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," which actor played Butch?

Paul Newman

Robert Redford

Alan Alda

Paul Newman played the role of Butch, and Robert Redford was the Sundance Kid.

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To which country did Cassidy and Sundance flee to escape law enforcement?

Canada

Mexico

Bolivia

The men made an arduous journey to Bolivia, and even there, they couldn't escape the long arm of the law.

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Cassidy and Sundance didn't commit any robberies once they left the U.S.

True

False

Leaving U.S. soil didn't stop them from being criminals. They kept right on thieving once they traveled abroad.

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How many men did Sundance kill in the United States?

zero

three

five

Sundance wasn't much of a killer -- he didn’t shoot anyone in the U.S. at all. He probably did hurt people during his last stand, though.

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How did Cassidy and Sundance die?

No one knows.

in a wagon accident

in a shootout in Bolivia

Legend has it that they died at a shootout in Bolivia, but there's absolutely no hard evidence to back that story. Researchers dug up and examined the supposed bodies at one point and determined that the remains definitely were not of the American outlaws.

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Whatever happened to Sundance's girlfriend, Etta Place?

She was killed in the Bolivian shootout.

No one knows.

She died in Utah.

There's no record of what happened to Etta Place. She was probably using an assumed name, making it all the more difficult to determine who she was and how she died.

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Cassidy and Sundance were best friends.

true

false

They were partners in crime, but there's no real evidence that they were best friends. Regardless, their names will be inextricably intertwined for the rest of history.

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